Monkey D. Luffy

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Monkey D. "Straw Hat" Luffy (Japanese: ?????D????, Hepburn: Monk? D? Rufi) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the One Piece manga series, created by Eiichiro Oda. Luffy made his debut in One Piece chapter #1 as a young boy who acquires the properties of rubber after inadvertently eating the supernatural Gum-Gum fruit.

He sails from the East Blue Sea to the Grand Line in search of the legendary treasure, One Piece, to succeed Gol D. Roger as King of the Pirates. Luffy, captain of the Straw Hat Pirates, recruits crew members, fights antagonists, and aids and befriends the inhabitants of several islands during his journey. Usually cheerful, he becomes serious when he fights. Luffy uses his elasticity to concentrate his power, executing a range of attacks. In his signature attack, Gum-Gum Pistol, he slingshots punches at opponents from a distance.

Luffy appears in most of the episodes, films, television specials, and OVAs of the manga's anime adaptations and several of the franchise's video games. Due to the series' international popularity, Luffy has become one of the world's most recognizable anime characters. In addition to the One Piece franchise, the character has appeared in a number of manga and anime series and collaborative video games. His critical reception has been largely positive.

Video Monkey D. Luffy

Creation and conception

Development

When Eiichiro Oda created Luffy, he strove for a "manliness" similar to that of Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball series. Oda said that he named his main character "Luffy" because he felt that the name suited him. When he later learned about the sailing term, "luffing", he was delighted by the coincidence. In his prototype one-shots, "Romance Dawn", Oda refined the artistic style and story elements before publishing the final product a year later as the first chapter of One Piece. In the second version of "Romance Dawn", Luffy resembled his design at the beginning of the series. To please his readers, Oda added rubberization to Luffy for comic effect and tries to make the character straightforward.

Voice actors

In the original Japanese version of the One Piece anime series and later spin-offs of the franchise, Luffy was voiced by Mayumi Tanaka. Tanaka said jokingly that she regrets providing Luffy's voice because she is a mother in real life and Luffy is much younger. Asked about her voicing, Tanaka said that she "strives for reality" in scenes where Luffy speaks when he is eating or touching his nose. In the OVA Defeat the Pirate Ganzack!, Luffy was voiced by Urara Takano. The character was voiced by Colleen Clinkenbeard in Funimation's English-language dub of the One Piece franchise.

Maps Monkey D. Luffy

Description

Luffy is usually recognizable by his straw hat, a gift from "Red-Haired" Shanks. In his early childhood, he wears a white shirt and blue shorts. The character has a scar under his left eye from stabbing himself to demonstrate his courage to Shanks and his crew. He later wears a red vest, denim shorts and sandals before replacing his vest with a red, unbuttoned sea captain's coat (revealing the X-shaped scar on his chest he received from Akainu), and a yellow sash tied around his waist.

Personality

Luffy is portrayed as a carefree, happy-go-lucky character with great ambition and a huge appetite, often thinking with his stomach and comically gorging himself. Caring and generally good-hearted, he is not as dimwitted as many believe him to be and often demonstrates more understanding than the other characters expect. Knowing the danger ahead, Luffy is willing to risk his life to become King of the Pirates and protect his crew. A capable and reliable captain, he never puts his crew or himself at risk out of incompetence. During the Loguetown story arc, Smoker (a navy captain at the time) says that Luffy "enjoys playing stupid"; Luffy responds with a mysterious smile.

He enlists Chopper and Brook for his crew for their personality or appearance, but also because of his instinctive ability to read people. Luffy needs key jobs filled by his crew (cook, navigator, doctor, musician and shipwright, filled by Sanji, Nami, Chopper, Brook and Franky respectively). At the beginning of the series, he said that he wanted at least 10 crew members with abilities he felt necessary for his goal. Despite his carefree personality, each crew member respects him in their own way. Luffy is rarely concerned about the consequences of his actions, doing what he feels is best even if it leads to retaliation by a powerful force. He is an extremely loyal captain, who has demonstrated throughout the series that he is willing to risk his life for the well-being of his crew.

Abilities

Luffy's rubberiness is a result of eating the Gum-Gum fruit, which makes him immune to most blunt forces and electric attacks and gives him the ability to stretch his body at will. He uses his elasticity to accelerate part or all of his body to deliver punches, kicks, head butts and body checks or for propulsion. Like others exposed to Devil Fruit, Luffy cannot swim; when he is submerged in water or contacts the Sea-Prism Stone, he loses his strength and cannot move on his own. In addition to his Devil Fruit powers, he has immense strength and endurance.

Luffy's signature attack is the Gum-Gum Pistol, a punch which he learned during years of training. Another technique developed later in the series is Second Gear (??2 (????), Gia Sekando), increasing his strength and speed for a short time but straining his body. Observing CP9's Shave (?, Soru) technique, Luffy adapted the move to his rubber body and matched the assassins' speed. Third Gear (??3 (???), Gia S?do), another technique, uses air in his bones to attack but makes him shrink afterwards. Luffy can use both techniques simultaneously; after two years, he has gained better control of the techniques and is no longer affected by their drawbacks.

Eventually, Luffy develops his latent ability to use Haki (??, ambition). This ability has two main types: Armament Haki (??????, Bus?shoku no Haki), an armor-like force which can amplify defense and the force of attacks and negate a Devil Fruit user's defense, allow physical contact and damage, and Observation Haki (??????, Kenbunshoku no Haki), a sixth sense which can read a person's moves and detect their presence. He also has a rare third type, the Conquering King's Haki (??????, Ha?shoku no Haki), which can render people or animals near him unconscious. Two years later, Luffy masters the three types of Haki and uses them with his improved attacks. As a result of his encounter with Magellan, he has also developed an immunity to poison (although it is implied that a strong poison may affect him).

Luffy develops another technique, Fourth Gear (??4 (????), Gia F?su) (similar to Third Gear), inflating his muscles to increase the size of his limbs (except for his legs). He can make destructive moves by compressing and releasing his limbs, and can fly in a similar fashion to CP9's Moon Walk (??, Gepp?) technique.

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Appearances

One Piece

Luffy first appears as a young boy in Windmill Village, who befriends the pirate "Red-Haired" Shanks and intends to become one himself. Before the series begins, he accidentally eats the Gum-Gum fruit and acquires rubber powers. Luffy is later saved by Shanks from being devoured by a Sea King, a large sea beast, and Shanks loses an arm. Ten years later, Luffy leaves the village in search of the One Piece treasure and to become King of the Pirates. He meets swordsman Roronoa Zoro, ocean navigator and thief Nami, cowardly marksman and liar Usopp, and chivalrous chef Sanji, and invites them to join his crew. Luffy also encounters and defeats the East Blue pirate Buggy the Clown and the fishman Arlong, becoming known to the general populace and the pirate-hating Marines. He later accepts an offer to return Princess Nefertari Vivi of Alabasta to her homeland to stop a rebellion incited by Seven Warlords of the Sea member and Baroque Works crime-syndicate leader Sir Crocodile. After he defeats Crocodile, Luffy accepts Crocodile subordinate Nico Robin as his ally. On Drum Island he finds reindeer doctor Tony Tony Chopper, who also joins his crew.

While visiting Skypiea, the crew is drawn into a war. Luffy defeats the god Eneru, ending the war. He meets Admiral Aokiji, who easily defeats him. Luffy learns about Robin's background and faces enemies connected to her, such as Franky (a cyborg who becomes Luffy's ally) and the intelligence agency Cipher Pol No. 9. Luffy and his crew save Robin at Enies Lobby. After their fight with CP9, Franky joins the crew. Luffy enters the Florian Triangle and encounters Brook, a skeletal musician. To return Brook's shadow, he defeats warlord Gecko Moria. After releasing the rest of the island's prisoners, Brook becomes a member of Luffy's crew. They go to the Sabaody Archipelago, and have Silvers Rayleigh coat the Thousand Sunny to enter the second half of the Grand Line. After Luffy's encounter with Admiral Kizaru and warlord Bartholomew Kuma, he and his crew are sent to separate parts of the world.

Stranded on Amazon Lily, an island ruled by the warlord Boa Hancock, Luffy impresses Hancock with his bravery and selflessness. Hancock falls in love with Luffy and brings him to the underground Impel Down prison to save his brother, Portgas D. Ace, from execution. Luffy breaks into the prison and meets previous foes and new allies, such as former warlord Jimbei. He frees the prisoners, they arrive at Marineford and Luffy is drawn into a war between the navy and Whitebeard's pirate crews. Ace gives his life to save Luffy, who is evacuated with Jimbei from Marineford by Trafalgar Law. Returning to Amazon Lily, Luffy remembers first meeting Ace; after Shanks left Windmill Village, Luffy's grandfather left him in the care of bandit Curly Dadan. He befriends Ace and Sabo, who are like brothers to him, but Sabo is seemingly killed by a World Noble. After returning to Marineford to send a hidden message to his crew, Luffy trains with Rayleigh on Ruskaina Island to become stronger.

Two years later Luffy rejoins the Straw Hats, but the crew is briefly separated again while sailing to Fishman Island. Luffy and the others meet Jimbei and the island's princess, Shirahoshi, and are drawn into a battle for the island against fishman Hody Jones. He, the crew and Jimbei conceive of a plan to defeat Hody and his henchmen. After Hody's defeat, Luffy retrieves the stolen treasure from the rookie pirate Caribou and begins a feud with Big Mom. The crew enters the New World; Luffy, Zoro, Usopp and Robin disembark on Punk Hazard and are soon captured by Caesar Clown, a jealous rival of the scientist Vegapunk. Luffy and his crew ally with Trafalgar Law, and he defeats Caesar after learning about his history. With Caesar hostage the alliance lands on Dressrosa (the kingdom of Don Quixote Doflamingo), where Luffy enters a tournament to win Ace's Devil Fruit.

In other media

Luffy has appeared in every One Piece licensed electronic video game to date, including Jump Super Stars and Jump Ultimate Stars, and is featured in the 2006 Dragon Ball Z-One Piece-Naruto crossover game Battle Stadium D.O.N. Luffy, Son Goku and Naruto Uzumaki were avatars in the MMORPG Second Life for a Jump Festa promotion, "Jumpland@Second Life". Luffy has also been mentioned in songs. He sings about being a wanted pirate in "Wanted!" and about One Piece in "Every-One Peace!" Luffy is a major playable character in the crossover game, J-Stars Victory VS.

The character has made guest appearances in Japanese television shows and manga. Luffy and several other characters joined the cast of Dragon Ball in a spinoff entitled Cross Epoch. On April 3, 2011, Luffy and the other One Piece protagonists appeared in the first episode of the Toriko anime series and the crossover manga chapter. Luffy made a cameo appearance in a Weekly Shonen Jump episode of To Love-Ru, and the Gum-Gum was mentioned in the 50th episode of the Gin Tama anime series. He has also appeared in the web comic, VG Cats. In 2008, Toei Animation sponsored the Italian Pallavolo Modena volleyball team; Pietro Rinaldi and Edoardo Ciabattini's black uniforms were decorated with an image of Luffy on the front. Luffy appeared on the cover of the January 2010 issue of the Japanese fashion magazine Men's Non-No, the first manga character to do so. His clothes were designed by Shinichi "Miter" Mita.

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Reception

Luffy led all three Sh?nen Jump character popularity polls. According to Funimation Entertainment's Mike McFarland and Christopher Sabat, Luffy was more likable than Dragon Ball's Son Goku. Joe McCulloch preferred Luffy to Naruto Uzumaki from Naruto because Luffy "work[ed] his ass off" to achieve his goals after accidentally acquiring his powers. Luffy was nominated in the Best Male Character category for the 2008 Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation Awards, losing to Ichigo Kurosaki of Bleach. He was ranked 22nd on Chris Mackenzie's IGN list of top-25 anime characters of all time. NTT customers chose Luffy as their second-favorite black-haired male anime character. The Gum-Gum Gatling technique topped the male category in a Japanese survey of the most popular moves in manga and anime. In a Japanese TV special from August 2017, Luffy was voted as the 8th "strongest hero" from the Showa Era as well as the 4th one from the Heisei Era.

Luffy has been praised in a number of publications. T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews called Luffy "likabl[y] goofy" and an idealist with infectious optimism. In a review of One Piece The Movie: Dead End no B?ken, the fourth One Piece film, The Star Online described him as "an airhead and brilliant fighter". Rika Takahashi of EX wrote that Luffy's stretching powers set One Piece apart from "the old stereotypical adventure manga" and the many other "combat-oriented mangas [sic]", making the series "something new and interesting". Anime News Network (ANN) writer Zac Bertschy found Luffy reminiscent of Rurouni Kenshin's character Himura Kenshin in personality and attitude, but still thought him entertaining. Mania Entertainment's Bryce Coulter called Luffy a "great shonen hero". ANN's Carl Kimlinger wrote, "Colleen Clinkenbeard's Luffy continues to grow on you". In the final chapter of Naruto, Boruto Uzumaki makes a drawing of Luffy as a legacy of him and the series.

In a Weekly Shonen Jump manga, Tsugihagi Hyouryuu Sakka (a character resembling Luffy) says, "Instead of saying what you hate, say what you like!" In the One Piece manga, Luffy cited but changed it to "Instead of saying what you like, say what you hate!" The meme was acknowledged in the crossover fighting game, J-Stars Victory VS

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Notes

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References

Source of the article : Wikipedia